Operation Meetinghouse

Operation Meetinghouse (9-10 March 1945) was a devastating air raid on the Japanese capital of Tokyo that was undertaken by the US Air Force during World War II. A force of 282 US B-29 heavy bombers flew at 2,000 feet above the city and dropped M-69 incendiary bomblets, releasing jets of flaming napalm across the city. Due to Tokyo's infrastructure consisting mostly of flammable materials such as wood and straw, the raging fires spread with the wind, with bombs being dropped near signal fires set by pathfinder planes. The Americans bombed the densely-populated and working-class Koto and Chuo districts along the waterfront, and the winds blew at 28 miles per hour. 15.8 square miles of the city were destroyed, and around 100,000 people were killed in the conflagration; 1,000,000 were made homeless. The Americans lost 27 planes to enemy action, mechanical failure, or being caught in updrafts caused by the massive fires. The raid was the single most destructive bombing raid in human history, annihilating central Tokyo and causing demoralization in Japan.